Iran to export gas to Europe soon

Iran plans to export natural gas to Europe in the near future after it signed similar deals and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with a number of Asian countries. An Iranian official said according to negotiations between senior Iranian energy officials and a European country, that he did not name, Iran is due to supply gas the given European nation via Turkey. He said some Iranian and European banks will be in charge of payment settlements, adding that talks with those banks have already taken place. "The unnamed European country has asked for importing between 20mln to 25mln cubic meters of Iran’s gas on a daily basis," the source added. The two sides will discuss the exact volume of gas supplies and also the price in their negotiations in the next two months. "Iran and the European country will sign the deal for export of Iran’s gas to that country before the end of 2013, hence paving the way for export of Iran’s gas to Europe for the first time," he added. In May, former Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi announced that gas exports earn the country 20 to 25 billion dollars a year. The former minister laid emphasis on the political and security significance of Iran's gas exports to the neighboring states. With 137.6bln barrels of proven reserves, Iran enjoys the world's fourth largest crude deposits, and the second largest gas reserves, estimated at 29.61 trillion cubic meters.